User blog:SolZen321/Why are there so many Invaders?
So I just took a watching to Godzilla Monster Planet (about time...) and something got me thinking. The entire situation at the start of the movie, the aliens that visited Earth and why. Unlike previous blogs, this isn't a theory blog. In Ultraseven, there reason give in and outside of the show, for most of the invaders actions, ranging from colonization, to lack of resources. This is more fan fiction than anything, but I decided it made more sense here, than Ultra Fan Wiki. In the following is a list of reasons why Alien races may be invasive. Use this for your fiction, or maybe some points to argue it is not important. Note: Do not read if you haven't watched Godzilla Monster Planet, this contains some light spoilers. 1. Gaia Planet A common theme in several Toku shows that involve Alien Invasion is that Earth is somehow more beautiful than most planets, that it's a Gaia world, a world of ecological and environmental stability (until we showed up, but not the point of this piece). In monster planet, the only other planet shown to be able to bare live was practically inhospitable and the possibility of finding another viable planet was rather low. Earth wasn't just seen as a resource rich world, it was special because it was practically the only known inhabitable world that didn't seem out to kill whatever was on it. This may also be a reason why ULTRAMAN several species are noted for being superhuman, and the implication is not that they enhanced, or something special like the Ultras, but that their elevated physical abilities are natural. If I had to guess, it would be because these species evolved on much more hostile environments than most. As stated, necessity is the mother of invention, so many of these. This is what attracts Aliens, particularly invaders to Earth in the movie, and could be what attracts them in the Ultra Series, a hospitable world, that is nowhere near as harsh as they are accustomed to. Then you have humanity, who seems to just abuse it, and you can possibly see why such races may be naturally aggressive to humanity. Yet, there may be another reason why Aliens came to Earth, they were driven off their homeworlds, like in Monster Planet, and by what, you may ask? Monsters. 2. Monster Planets In Monster Planet, it was pointed out that on other planets besides Earth, monsters arise. They arise and force any civilizations off planet as they seem to just naturally target them. It seems civilizations and monsters basically cannot get along. That's the Godzilla Movie, in the Ultra Series, we have an event which is known to have caused giant monsters to appear, the lighting of the Plasma Spark, whose rays didn't just create the Ultras but also the first Kaiju. What you have then a recipe for a conflict heavy universe. Habitable planets are scarce, and many of those are plagued with giant monsters. You then have races who engineer their own monsters to fight them, or to use them as tools of conquest. From this point of view, the Space Garrison seems less like pure altruism and more like the Ultra cleaning up the mistakes of their ancestors. This is also why I don't like this rumor/idea that Ultraman King made the Plasma Spark, because obviously, a being like him would've made a version of it, that could create the Ultras, or not even altar the planet's original inhabitants, and not cause wide spread chaos across the universe. 3. The Royal Tree Now you're probably wondering what that tree has to do with anything? Well, for that let's look into the Fermi Paradox Filters. The Fermi Paradox is an equation to calculate the possible number of civilizations/sentient species in a galaxy, or even the universe, but in truth the Paradox itself is the question, 'if life is so abundant in the universe, where is everyone'? The Filters are the theories that attempt to answer this paradox. The one I wish to look at, in this moment is the idea that 'sentient' life is not that common. Now most people may think that Human beings just showing up on Earth was inevitable, but if you look at the filter, well, we may be something special. According to the Filter, the reason why there are no other sentient species (though there are a few that skirt under the widely exception definition of that term) on this planet is because intelligence...is not that good of a survival strategy. You may think this a strange idea, but listen, do you know that most animals can go without food, much longer than humans? The reason for this is simple, they have smaller brains, and smaller brains, demand less energy. A good, let's say 60%, of the energy you consume goes towards keeping your brain running. It also means that organisms have to raise their young for much longer. We are literally the species that cares for its young the longest on this planet, and this is somewhat seen with the Ultras, whose children leave school at age FOUR THOUSAND! You then have to ponder which is more likely to survive on average, a creature with a mind, that's going to stop and second-guess itself, ponder, and be confused, or a creature that knows what to do because of instinct? So with that out of the way, let's go back to the tree. So let's say the universe of the Ultra Series is as stated, a universe filled with numerous planets that can provide for life, but are harsh and difficult to survive on, lush worlds, like Earth are somewhat uncommon or even rare. Then you have the Royal Tree, an organism, a system that's literally forcing species to evolve into sentience, which then develop civilizations and very possibly pollution. Their harsh environments more often than naught, breeds natural competitiveness and aggression and forces them to develop technology somewhat quickly (yes this is assuming most of races evolved around the same time as mankind) achieve space travel, and begin competing, if not downright warring for resources. In short, we have a universe, not very conductive to sentient life, overcrowded with sentient life, and then low and behold, the Runaway Evolutionary Event, caused by the Plasma Spark across the universe, adding more fuel to the fire. Now this is not saying that every species that pops up is so going to be so very aggressive, but that the situation in the universe is ripe for this sort of behavior to exist. 4. The Alien View of Humanity In Ultraman Max, the Baltan Aliens called mankind 'invasive' for want to colonize the Moon and Mars. For the longest time I never understood why, until recently. The Earth's Moon and Mars are uninhabitable and close to the that respectively. They are also within Earth's solar system and are not home to any indegenious life forms. So why would these attempts at colonization be seen as 'invasive'. Then it hit me, as I watched Monster Planet. The term is not from a military standpoint, it's from an ecological standpoint. The Aliens are calling Mankind an invasive species, like Anaconda's in Florida. From that point I began to construct what the viewpoint of aliens would be on humanity, in the universal situation hypothesized above. The answer, spoiled, maybe even spoiled rotten. For the species who came from harsh worlds, that forced them to evolve powerful bodies (by human standards), and develop advance technology to combat and/or escape their harsh environments, mankind who took so long to evolve to its current technological, scientific a sociological level, has been slow. That they have spread so much, to such vast numbers while their races maintain much smaller numbers, they have propered and yet constantly fight each other over resources and traditions. From some points of view, mankind is a plague waiting to happen. There is also the law of population intelligence (don't ask I can't remember where I heard this from). In essence, it states that the higher a population's number, the lower the average member's intelligence and we have some rather large numbers. I am not saying mankind is a plague, I am giving context to how Aliens would feel and/or justify their invasions. 5. What the Ultras are doing about it Now, for much of this blog, it may seem like I'm bashing on the Ultras, making it seem that everything major, and wrong in the Ultra series is their fault, despite the fact that we have creatures like Rayblood, Juda and Alien Empera, giving the impression that things were ''grimdark ''before the Ultras showed when you think about it. Base on what is observed from the actions of the Ultras in Showa universe and alternate Showa Universes, and some background info provided to me by Amir, Ultras seem to do a bunch of things to keep the peace and sanity of the universe. Most commonly they seem to engage in armed interventions of interspecies conflicts of different bio-spheres. Or...in simpler terms, they stop invasions. It appears they also engage in diplomatic relations with other races, as Hikari's Resurrection technology was shared with other races, and then the Bat Aliens, who were part of that aliens, used the tech to resurrect Zetton and attempt to conquer the Land of Light...yeah, that's why Ultras don't like them. Ultra, most obviously, go about fighting monsters and stopping their rampages. Short, Ultras appear to be trying to remedy the major problems that cause inter-species conflict, and leviating the problems at the source. For all the problems that may have popped up with their appearance, the Ultras are perhaps the primary reason the Ultra Series is not grimdark, both on a meta level, and in-story. 6. Resources and Planets I have been thinking about it. Many scientists would say that it's easier to get resources from asteroids and desolite moons and planets that worlds like Earth, which are inhabited and would have species to compete with. Pure Hydrogen and Helium would be easier to find in space then 'down the gravity well' yet Invaders seemed pretty focused on taking Earth. So clearly there must be something else. Some aliens in Ultraseven wanted mankind as a workforce, or worse a food source, which ties in again with the idea that they have limited numbers to produce limited amount of infrastructure, etc. However what if there was another reason. My idea is these aliens need bio-fuel, which is not easy to grow in significant numbers out in space, or on their homeworlds. Why do I suggest this? Because we use things like natural gas, oil, and ethanol to create plastics and other synthetic materials we need for for modern technology. Ethanol is made using crops like rice or sugar cane. It's an artificial fuel that could potentially replace oil and cars can run with it, and it's infinitely cleaner. I could go and explain why we don't use it more, but that risks getting too political... Back on topic. bio-fuels such as these would require either mining operations for oil, or large agricultural complexes/space, agriculture that may also be used to feed the population. If the race wishes to expand their technological arsenal, they would need to sacrifice some food in theory, or divert manpower to mining operations. Now given how most races would probably have a limited population...you can see the problem. Yes there are things like robots and drones, but those require metals and plastics, resources that have to be acquired in the first place. This whole issue, again, is because their planet(s) may be able sustain life, but is not exactly welcoming to it. So migrating to a lush world, with a much more merciful environment would be a godsend for them. Final Thoughts Now again, do not treat this as even a theory, from what information we have, it is impossible to definitively say this, if anything it was unintentionally implied. Of all the trends that annoy me in this fandom, such as parodies, and cringe humor, this need to reimagine the Ultras as flawed and less noble than their original interpretation is often little more than grimdark fluff being used as a crutch for actual story telling. Now, if you wish to use these ideas as plot points, that's another story entirely. Also I'm doing this because of a preview for the ULTRAMAN Manga, where they may be referencing the Plasma Spark. Category:Blog posts